Hector Trujillohector_trujillo<at>berkeley<dot>edu

Hector joined the lab in 2017. He received his B.A. in Biology and Chemistry from Williams College. At Williams, he worked under Alex Engel, Ph.D. to characterize the distinct roles that Toll-like receptor 9 assumes in response to viral or bacterial challenges. After dabbling in immunology, he is now interested in the cell biology and physiological relevance of ferrosomes in Rhodopseudomonas palustris, a purple non-sulfur bacterium. During his free time, he enjoys karaoke, binge-watching reality TV and listening to true crime podcasts. ​

Carly Grant

carly<dot>grant<at>berkeley<dot>edu

Carly joined the lab in 2014. She is interested in the diverse magnetosomes and other biominerals formed by bacteria in response to changes in environmental conditions. Unlike the well-studied magnetotactic α-proteobacteria, magnetotactic δ-proteobacteria appear to form their magnetosomes through a slightly different process that is less well understood. Carly is studying Desulfovibrio magneticus RS-1 as a model for magnetosome formation in δ-proteobacteria. In addition, she is interested in other biominerals formed by RS-1, and perhaps other bacteria, in response to environmental stresses. She received her B.S. in Biotechnology from Montana State University where she studied Listeria monocytogenes mutants as vaccine candidates under the guidance of Prof. Joshua Obar. Carly loves skiing, hiking, and exploring new places.

Matthieu Amoramor<at>berkeley<dot>edu

Matthieu received his PhD from the University Paris-Diderot in 2015. His thesis work was conducted at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP) and at the Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie (IMPMC) under the supervision of Pr. François Guyot and Dr. Vincent Busigny. Matthieu was interested in characterizing the chemical and isotopic properties specific of magnetite nanoparticles produced by Magnetospirillum magneticum strain AMB-1, with the goal of identifying fossils of magnetotactic bacteria in ancient rock samples. He joined the Komeili Lab in 2016 to better understand the function of proteins allowing magnetite biomineralization mainly in AMB-1, and to characterize the biological factors providing AMB-1 magnetite with unique chemical and isotopic features.

Patrick Brownepatbrowne<at>berkeley<dot>edu

Patrick joined the Komeili Lab in 2012 to study the biomineralization of magnetosomes in Magnetospirillum magneticum AMB-1. Specifically, he is interested in identifying proteolysis targets of MamE using both biochemical and genetic means and understanding how magnetosome maturation is regulated. Patrick received his B.S. in Microbiology at UC Berkeley where he studied biosurfactant production in Pseudomonas syringae. Outside of lab he enjoys snowboarding and rock climbing.

Juan Wanjuan.wan<at>berkeley<dot>edu

Juan received her PhD from Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique-Institut Armand-Frappier (Canada) in 2015. Her thesis work was conducted in the laboratory of Professor Jean-François Laliberté on the ultrastructure of Turnip mosaic virus membrane-associated replication complexes, and the role of those replication complexes in virus movement.For the postdoc training, she continues to study the mechanism of membrane-bound structures formation by using the bacterium Magnetospirillum magneticum AMB-1 as a model. Particularly, she is interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms of membrane biogenesis and chain formation. She also works on producing magnetosomes in foreign bacteria.

Hayley McCausland

hcmccausland<at>berkeley<dot>edu

Hayley joined the lab in 2016. She is studying the metabolism of magnetotactic bacteria and the genes that connect environmental conditions to biomineralization. She is also interested in discovering the function of a tubulin-like protein--FtsZm--that is encoded in the magnetosome gene island. Hayley received her B.S. in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology from Emory University, where she studied the role of potassium channels in fragile X syndrome in Prof. Gary Bassell’s lab. Outside of lab, she enjoys rowing crew, cooking, and running. ​​